"Santi Palacios, an independent Spanish photojournalist on assignment for the Associated Press, was embedded with Proactiva Open Arms, a Spanish rescue group begun by volunteer lifeguards who responded to the historic influx of asylum-seekers on the shores of Greece two years ago. With rough seas early on July 25, Palacios thought it could be a quiet day. But close to 11 a.m., a call came in about a dire situation 12 miles away. The vessel, named Open Arms, dispatched two speed boats that raced to the scene.

“We could very easily see that something was wrong, that something was not normal,” Palacios told TIME in the hours after the scene unfolded. The rescuers attempted to bring calm and distributed life jackets before disembarkation could begin. “It wasn’t until we took these four kids with us on our speed boat—and one woman to take care of them—that we really started hearing there were bodies inside.”

"Breath rising in a plume above him, Bashir, 8, darted among the sleeping bodies on the floor of the abandoned Belgrade warehouse. In a corner lay a wet, grey blanket, edged with sleet.

“This is where I sleep,” the Afghan child said, pointing at the ground. “It’s very cold.”

The building has no windows, doors or beds. While the roof offers some protection from the heavy snow, it feels as cold inside as outside. Last week, temperatures dropped to -15C in what locals describe as the worst winter for 70 years. Fires lit by the freezing migrants fill the air with acrid black smoke, reverberating with the sound of hacking coughs.

"t was a make-or-break moment in a journey across a continent. In the last few hours, he'd cased the border, planning how they would make their dash through the fields from Serbia into Hungary. His mind was racing. Had he missed anything?

His vision drifted up to the late afternoon sky, crisscrossed by the white streams of passenger jets. He watched one plane go by, then another, then another. Full of normal passengers on normal voyages. He thought of the life he was certain he would reach, in Germany.

"One day soon, I'll travel by planes like those," he mused.

The dream of normalcy after a life destroyed by Syria's civil war had sustained the 26-year-old throughout his journey. Across the Aegean Sea where others like him had drowned. Through miles of walking under hot sun. Through rain and muddy fields, crowded train stations and long bus rides, lack of sleep, confusion, impatience, exhaustion, fear and anger — the constant barrage of every emotion, except one. Never despair, never a moment of despair or surrender.

Mohammed's voyage was part of an historic movement of humanity as more than 600,000 migrants this year have crossed land and sea, seeking sanctuary in Europe. Countries there have been struggling to cope with the biggest wave of migration since World War II. Their shifting policies and the ensuing chaos have forced migrants to find new routes to northern Europe, where even the richest nations are now signaling they want to deter what they view as an unwanted overflow of migration"..........

For the millions of Muslims abstaining from food and drink from sunrise to sunset every day during Islam's holiest month of Ramadan, that first sip of water after a grueling fast is by far the most anticipated moment of the day. To read more, visit AP's Big Story.

Here is a collection of Associated Press photographs of iftars from around the world.